A judge on Wednesday sentenced a 42-year-old man to state prison for 7 ½ to 20 years for soliciting sex from a teenage girl while he was in prison.

President Judge John C. Tylwalk sentenced Shayne J. Bechtel, formerly of Lebanon, for criminal solicitation, unlawful contact with a minor and endangering the welfare of a child.

Police charged Bechtel in connection with a 10-page letter that he wrote and telephone calls that he made to the 16-year-old girl while he was in prison on a parole violation during the summer of 2011.

Bechtel violated parole for using drugs, prosecutors said. He was on parole for theft and receiving stolen property, according to court records.

"I am disgusted with you," the victim's grandmother told Bechtel before he was sentenced. "You ruined her life."

The Lebanon Daily News does not publish victims' names or other information that could identify victims, such as the identities of victims' relatives.

The victim's mother told the judge that Bechtel had been using bath salts and abused alcohol.

Defense attorney Jay Nigrini said that Bechtel has a lengthy criminal record but none involving sexual offenses.

Bechtel told the judge that he was remorseful and responsible for his actions.

"I chose to be here," he said.

He said he has had a drug problem for a long time.

Bechtel pleaded guilty to the charges Aug. 21 as his case was about to be heard by Tylwalk in a non-jury trial.

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Megan Ryland-Tanner, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case, said Bechtel was obsessive, making numerous calls to the girl.

"The calls constantly referred to some type of sexual contact," the prosecutor said.

Telephone calls made by prisoners, except those made to their attorneys, are routinely recorded at the prison.

Ryland-Tanner said the charges filed against Bechtel were based solely on the letter and the telephone calls because the victim was too distraught to discuss the matter. The prosecutor said a city police detective tried to interview the girl, but she couldn't discuss the allegations with the investigator.

"It was very clear from the beginning that she was not ready to acknowledge what happened," Ryland-Tanner said.

It is not unusual for victims in sexual abuse cases to be unable to describe what happened to them, she explained.

Prosecutors were unable to determine whether Bechtel actually had sex with the girl before he was picked up on the parole violation, Ryland-Tanner said.

Bechtel's conduct came to light in late July after he arranged for a just-released county prison inmate to deliver the letter to the victim, the prosecutor said. The victim's grandmother opened the letter, read it and took it to the city police, Ryland-Tanner said.

She said Bechtel's letter described various sex acts he wanted to engage in with the girl and his desire to videotape them.

Investigators then listened to Bechtel's phone calls from prison to the girl, Ryland-Tanner said. One of the calls was 20 minutes long, and the content of it was sexually explicit, she said.

In addition to the prison sentence, Tylwalk ordered Bechtel to pay fines of $2,000.

The judge said an evaluation by the state sexual offender's assessment board determined that Bechtel met the criteria under the Pennsylvania Megan's Law to register his home address with state police for the rest of his life.